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Jesse Bushkar is the CEO of Sysconn New Media Inc. He can be contacted at 912-356-9920 or jesse@sysconn.com.

Jesse Bushkar: Talk nerdy to me

I feel that one of my biggest skills (if not my only skill) is that I’m good at communicating technical information to people who aren’t usually comfortable with that sort of thing. I don’t say this to brag. I mention it because a communication gap exists between nerds and non-nerds, and I’m constantly trying to close that gap.

I like to make jokes that “computers are a fad” and “pretty soon we won’t be using the internet.” Trust me. These are jokes. We will never use computers less than we do right now. The interfaces may change and become more organic and they may not feel so much like computers, but the computing power will still be behind the scenes.

Once you realize this, you can see how important communicating with nerds can be. Nerds are the ones who connect you to your friends via Facebook. They’re the ones who let you accept credit cards. They power your text messaging, for better or worse.

Keep in mind that I use the term “nerd” very affectionately and I wear the label proudly.

But there is a stigma out there that isn’t entirely false. The stereotypical nerd is cold and difficult to work with. They make you feel stupid for not knowing the answers. They make you not want to ask for help. That’s why I’ve put together a few bullet points to try to bridge the communication gap, if even just a little bit.

• Nerds have egos like athletes. They put a lot of time and effort into learning what they know. Being appreciative and complimentary, rather than demanding, can get a nerd on your good side from the start.

• Appreciate the complexity of the systems you use on a daily basis. Email is such a common thing that we take it for granted. The reality is that 1,000 things have to go exactly right for an email to be delivered, and when one of those things breaks, nerds might have to check all 1,000.

• Remember that nerds are people, too. That frustrating IT guy goes home to his family, not to a box fort made of Star Wars DVDs (that might be in the garage, though). Don’t write them off as robots so quickly.

And nerds, get your stuff together. Stop making people feel like they’re dumb because they choose to pursue an expertise different than your own. If everyone knew the answers, then you’d be out of a job, so cut the rest of the world some slack.

I’m not advocating a nerd-appreciation holiday (has Hallmark invented that yet?). I just want to keep trying to bring some levity to the back-and-forth.

Truthfully, I think the stereotypically unfriendly nerd is born out of the idea that everyone else has access to the same information as they do. Something like: “You could have learned this but you chose not to, and that annoys me.”

That’s flawed logic, but it’s also a compliment. Nerds believe you’re just as capable as they are.

So the next time your computer crashes or you have to call tech support, take a deep breath, count to 10 and try to talk nerdy, just a little bit.